Danger Lies in a Smirk
By Rhionae
Athrun Zala was used to danger. One year of life as a soldier had left him with keenly honed instincts that had saved his life on several occasions. At that very moment, every single instinct he possessed was telling him that he was in terrible, horrible, worse-than-deadly peril. This was manifested in the form of Yzak Joule's smirk.
"What is it?" Athrun queried as the silver haired Coordinator seated himself in the chair opposite him.
"What, no 'Hi, it's nice to see you, Yzak!'? I'm crushed." The smirk was the most self-satisfied that Athrun had ever seen before, and boded ill for anyone Yzak liked to annoy. Unfortunately for him, Athrun was right at the top of that list.
"I'm sure." The younger boy quirked one eyebrow, and Yzak's smirk faded a little. He'd never quite been able to manage that feat of physical coordination, and thus heartily despised anyone who could.
Snorting his disdain, he gestured peremptorily at the waitress to bring his coffee, and fussed at it for several minutes before deigning to answer Athrun's original question.
"I was going through some of the records associated with the Mendel colony," he explained, opening his computer and pulling up a file. "Imagine my surprise when your name just popped up onto my screen."
"My name?" Athrun frowned, and reached out to turn the screen towards him. The action was stopped by a pale but firm hand that held the computer in place. "As one of the Mendel subjects? That's impossible. All of my prenatal treatment was conducted here in the PLANTs."
"Not quite." The smirk of doom was back full-force. "It seems that the centre your mother went to made a little mistake, and by the time they realised this it was too late for them to do anything about it. So your father arranged a little trip to the Mendel colony, for 'special' treatment."
Athrun's eyes were wide with anxious anticipation by the time Yzak released his hold on the computer. He spun the unit around and quickly skimmed the data on the screen. At first glance it seemed like a perfectly normal record, as might be found for any Coordinator child in the PLANTs. At the second read-through he picked up what he had missed the first time around, and choked back a disbelieving cry.
A soft click made him look up, to discover that Yzak had captured the moment in pixels, and was as pleased with the result as a cat with cream.
"This - that was a joke, right?" Athrun demanded. "To get the picture - "
"I'm afraid the picture is just a bonus," Yzak informed him condescendingly. "The data is absolutely bona fide."
Athrun stared down at the screen incredulously, then slowly raised his eyes to meet Yzak's highly amused gaze.
"What do you want?" he asked with no small amount of trepidation.
"Oh, no," Yzak assured him in a manner which left him in a cold sweat. "I really don't want anything from you, Athrun."
That left the other possibility... Athrun groaned.
"Who did you tell?"
Yzak's smirk threatened to spilt his face in half. "I was quite generous, really. Only certain parties with an interest in the matter were provided with this intriguing bit of knowledge."
"Such as?"
"Your tomboy princess, your close friend, your ex-fiancee, your other illustrious former teammate..."
Athrun buried his face in his hands and fleetingly wished he were dead.
Dearka had laughed himself silly, then teased him mercilessly for the remainder of his stay in the PLANTs. Yzak had smirked knowingly and aggravatingly the entire time, and made inappropriate comments at inappropriate times in front of inappropriate people. Thus it was Athrun returned to Orb with a certain amount of relief, even though he had yet to face the reactions of the three people who mattered most to him.
Lacus had welcomed him back with her usual smile, her attitude completely unchanged. It gave him hope that Yzak had only been bluffing - hope that lasted for all of five minutes. As soon as Kira entered the room Athrun knew that Kira knew, and what Kira knew then Lacus would know, and there was no way that Cagalli wouldn't know if Kira and Lacus knew, so...
Dinner was a slightly awkward affair. Athrun had often helped prepare meals with them before, but while Lacus remained unperturbed, Kira was constantly looking at him and generally getting in his way in an attempt to help him, until Lacus gently shooed him out of the kitchen. Then Cagalli arrived, and in contrast to her brother, she wouldn't look at him at all. By the time they sat down to eat, Athrun was about ready to scream in frustration. When the meal was over he excused himself and went to hide out on the veranda. It wasn't long, however, before he had company.
"So, is it true?" Cagalli's tone was brusque and demanding.
Athrun sighed, and contemplated playing ignorant for all of a second. If Cagalli was already cross, that would only upset her more.
"Apparently so," he acknowledged, turning his head to offer her a weak smile that she didn't see because she still wasn't looking at him. "It doesn't really change anything, does it?" he queried hopefully.
"Well..."
Kira was the one who answered him, as he stepped outside to join them. "Of course it doesn't!" he insisted, moving to stand beside Athrun at the rail.
Athrun sighed and turned back to face the sea, and forbore pointing out Kira's flushed cheeks or the sidelong glances the other kept directing at him. Cagalli, however felt no such restraint.
"If nothing's changed, then how come you're acting the way you are?" she glared at her brother accusingly, hands on her hips.
"Huh? I'm not acting - "
"Yes, you are! You keep staring at him, as though he were some kind of freak!"
"No! I mean, he's not a freak, and I just - "
"At least he's still looking at me," Athrun muttered morosely. Cagalli inhaled sharply at that, then deliberately leaned across the rail in front of him, her golden eyes fierce and determined as they gazed steadily into his own at such a close distance.
"I'm still looking at you, too!" she declared, and Athrun had to smile in relief. He didn't mention her flushed cheeks, either, as he was sure his own were tinged pink, at least.
"Oh, my, I hope we aren't interrupting!" Lacus stood in the open doorway, a half-dozen children by her side.
"Of course not," Cagalli said, drawing back to a more respectable distance.
Lacus moved to Kira's side as the children raced down the stairs to play tag in the last of the fading light.
"You're not still making a fuss over what Yzak said, are you?" she inquired with a smile. Athrun sighed, while Cagalli stared at the rail and Kira looked at her helplessly.
"The person you were in the past will always be different from the person you are now," she spoke serenely. "Whether the change is mental, emotional or physical doesn't really matter. You are who you are at this point in time, and that is simply Athrun Zala. Am I right?"
He smiled. "Thanks, Lacus." She was right, of course. What had occurred in the past was just that: the past. It wasn't as though what had happened to him was all that unusual. Sure, it had been let go for far longer than was normal, but it didn't have any lasting affect on who he was now. At least, not so far as he was aware...
A touch on his shoulder and another on his hand made him look up to see Kira and Cagalli sporting identical apologetic smiles.
"Sorry, I guess I was acting a bit strange," admitted Kira.
"Me too," added Cagalli.
"It's fine," Athrun responded. "Really." And it was. At least until the children ran up to him and started asking questions en masse.
"Is it true you used to be a girl?"
"How come you decided to be a boy instead?
"'Cause girls are icky!"
"That's not true!"
"Why would anyone want to be a boy?"
"Does liking Cagalli make you a lesbian?"
Athrun buried his face in his hands. Beside him, Cagalli was telling them off in tones of outraged embarrassment, while Lacus giggled behind one delicate hand.
"Sorry about this," Kira apologised as he drew Athrun into the house and away from the overly curious children. "I guess they must have heard us talking about it at some point."
"It's okay," Athrun replied. "I'll forgive you. On one condition."
"Eh?" Kira blinked. "What's that?"
"Help me dig up something at least this embarrassing on Yzak."
Kira laughed. "Sure," he said, and led the way to his computer terminal.
As they set to work, Athrun's smile twitched into a smirk that could have rivalled even Yzak's. If only the silver haired Coordinator could have seen it, he would have known he was in for a world of trouble.